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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

General

What is SilverHD DRM?

SilverHD DRM is a suite of products that together enable end-to-end DRM solutions based on Microsoft PlayReady DRM or its predecessor Windows Media DRM (WMDRM10). It consists of these components which can be combined as needed:

SilverHD Encryption:
Optimized Protection tools efficiently encrypt even the largest content libraries.
SilverHD DRM Server:
The licensing server, available as cloud-hosted service or on-premise software, enables secure creation and delivery of licenses (read “decryption keys plus usage rights”) to consumers. It features a comprehensive Web based API that makes integration with existing websites / portals an efficient and hassle-free process.
SilverHD DRM Player:
A sample Player and Web application. Any PlayReady / WMDRM10 compatible player is able to decrypt and play content that has been encrypted through SilverHD DRM. A reference implementation of a PlayReady enabled Silverlight player is delivered in source code. It is pre-integrated with the cloud-based SilverHD service. Additionally, documented reference code is provided showing how to consume the SilverHD DRM licensing service API.
SilverHD Managed Streaming:
Using SilverHD Managed Streaming you can take advantage of Axinom's secure data center for delivering your content to your audience.

What is the cloud-hosted SilverHD DRM service and who can use it?

The cloud-hosted SilverHD DRM service allows for generating licenses that enable end users to actually consume protected content. Additionally it can be used to encrypt content.

The service comes with an extensive Web based API that enables efficient integration with existing websites and online portals. It is accompanied by a set of tools that make adoption easy:

Tools for locally or remotely protecting assets with PlayReady / WMDRM10
Sample code for consuming the service API (generating license templates, etc.)
A showcase video portal Website called “Video Paradise” with complete source code
Full-featured Silverlight player integrated with SilverHD DRM service with complete source code
Comprehensive documentation

Are you licensed with Microsoft?

Yes. Axinom is one of only a few worldwide Microsoft PlayReady Application Service Providers.

Is SilverHD DRM approved by major studios, broadcasters, and networks?

Yes. Axinom SilverHD DRM is built on Microsoft's DRM technology which has an impressive track-record and earned full trust from all major players. PlayReady DRM, and thus Axinom SilverHD DRM, is the preferred DRM solution when talking to studios, broadcasters, and television networks.

I would like to use SilverHD DRM cloud-based services. Do I need to sign any agreements with Microsoft prior to using your service?

No. You just license our service and we take care of paying all royalties for license creation.

Can SilverHD DRM effectively prevent piracy?

Yes. PlayReady is the leading DRM technology with an impressive track record. It features built-in security on many levels and comes with sophisticated anti-tamper technology. Your content is persistently encrypted with state-of-the-art AES encryption technology prior to transferring it. Anyone “stealing” such content will not be able to consume it without the necessary decryption keys. All partners in the PlayReady ecosystem must adhere and are constantly monitored for adherence of the very strict Microsoft PlayReady Compliance and Robustness rules.

The PlayReady DRM ecosystem comes with provisions for reacting on security breaches on various levels like a certificate revocation list that license creation servers keep current in order to be able to detect players that might have been compromised.

Does your DRM solution impose restrictions on content types (video, audio, .mp3, .pdf etc)?

PlayReady can be used to encrypt arbitrary content types. Our SilverHD DRM line of products is based on PlayReady DRM and currently enables protection of video and audio content in an out-of-the-box manner. We are able to deliver custom solutions built on top of SilverHD DRM to help protect other content types.

Does your solution support mobile platforms?

Yes. We are able to provide you tailor-made players for all major mobile platforms, including iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod), Android, and Windows Phone 7. Contact us for more information.

What is “Video Paradise”?

Video Paradise is a sample VoD website that is delivered in source code. It shows how to integrate a video portal with SilverHD DRM services. It is a valuable source, if you plan to develop a new service or extend an existing Website with DRM.

Licensing

How is your solution licensed?

It is licensed as SaaS (cloud-based) or software product.

The most common licensing option is using our cloud-based service. The cloud-based service allows you to build, deploy and run end-to-end DRM solutions without the need and complexity of entering into any, potentially expensive, PlayReady agreement with Microsoft. You just pay based on the number of licenses issued by your application. We take care of paying all necessary PlayReady royalties.

Alternatively you may license our software and run it on your own servers. However, in that case you would need to be enrolled in an appropriate agreement with Microsoft. As PlayReady licensee we are required to license our software only to companies that are enrolled in one of these agreements:

PlayReady Server Development License
PlayReady Service Deployment License
PlayReady Service Provider License

For more information about licensing PlayReady technology please visit the PlayReady Website at Microsoft.

Can I test your service free of charge?

Yes. All you need to do is sign our non-disclosure agreement. After that we will provide you with access to our test environment, sample code, and comprehensive documentation.

Performance

How much load can your service carry?

Our cloud-hosted service runs in a load-balanced environment and is built to scale on demand. It is performance-optimized on several levels, reducing the round-trip time for acquiring licenses to a minimum, thus guaranteeing the best possible end user experience.

What can I expect in terms of server sizing for encrypting content?

Encrypting content is a relatively light-weight process. It is a lot lighter than encoding content. Typically encryption time is a small fraction of encoding time (like only 1/100th). Depending on the size of your encoding farm you should be able to roughly estimate what’s needed to encrypt your content.

Asset protection

What is a “license” in terms of SilverHD DRM?

A “license” means a relatively small packet of data that is needed to view / play the content. It contains a key for decrypting the content accompanied by rules that apply for that content. For example a license could tell the player to limit playback to a certain time frame or a certain number of views.

We are interested in user specific, device specific, location specific and time specific restriction of playback. Does SilverHD DRM support any of these?

All of these are supported with the integrated business rule engine of SilverHD DRM Server.

Do you deliver tools that enable local encryption of content?

Yes. We deliver tools for local as well as remote WMDRM10 and PlayReady encryption. In case of PlayReady we offer both, encryption of stand-alone files as well as support for multi-bitrate Smooth Streaming assets.

We are required to enforce output protection levels (OPL) when our content is played. Does SilverHD DRM support this?

Yes.

Does SilverHD DRM support copy protection using HDCP and CGMS-A?

Yes.

Browsers, clients and devices

Does SilverHD DRM support playback on Mac and Windows PCs?

Yes. The standard way to play PlayReady protected content on PCs and Macs is to use the Silverlight browser plugin. Microsoft Silverlight supports PlayReady and is available for different kinds of browsers on PCs and Macs. More information about Silverlight can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/what-is-silverlight

What about mobile devices such as Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone 7?

For Android and iOS devices (like iPhone, iPad, and iPod) specialized players need to be deployed. We offer custom development services for these kinds of players. Please contact us for more information.

Windows Phone 7 comes with support for Microsoft Silverlight and is able to play back PlayReady protected content.

Can SilverHD DRM be used with Settop boxes and connected TVs?

Yes. Settop box and Connected TV manufacturers more and more integrate support for PlayReady DRM into their devices. Many boxes and TV used to support Windows Media DRM 10 (WMDRM10) for quite some time. SilverHD DRM supports delivery of both, PlayReady and WMDRM10 compatible licenses. Therefore it is a safe bet to use SilverHD DRM in this kind of scenario.

Technology

What technologies can I use to integrate my Web portal with your service?

Any technology capable of consuming Web services (such as ASP.NET, PHP, Java, etc.) can be used to integrate with SilverHD DRM.

What platform is it based upon?

If you are using the cloud-hosted service this really does not matter a lot, because the service is used via Web services that can be accessed from any platform. However, if you want to license SilverHD DRM as a product and run it on your own premises you need to make sure to meet the requirements.

SilverHD DRM Server runs on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2003.

Windows Server 2008 R2 is used for PlayReady related services. Windows Server 2003 serves Windows Media DRM 10 (WMDRM10).

We use Windows Azure Media Services for content protection. Can I use SilverHD DRM as licensing server?

Yes. You can use Windows Azure Media Services for transcoding and encrypting your assets with Microsoft PlayReady. When delivering content to end users you can use SilverHD DRM service for creating appropriate licenses. Configuring Windows Azure Media Services for integration with Axinom SilverHD DRM is straight-forward. We provide Windows Azure Media Services XML task definitions for integration with both, Axinom SilverHD DRM evaluation and production environments. Just use these XML templates as your Windows Azure Media Services task definitions when protecting your content.

What media formats / codecs are supported?

The SilverHD DRM platform supports a wide range of audio and video formats, including:

Windows Media Video (WMV)
Windows Media Audio (WMA)
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), enhanced AAC and AAC+
MPEG-2 Audio Layer III (MP3)
H.263, H.264
and many more.

Various different media delivery methods are supported, including:

Progressive download over HTTP
Basic HTTP and/or RTSP streaming
Adaptive streaming (multiple technologies)
IIS smooth streaming
Direct delivery from local disk

In addition to the modern PlayReady content protection technology, SilverHD DRM is also capable of producing and consuming media that uses the legacy Windows Media DRM (WMDRM10) technology.

Do you support adaptive streaming technologies?

Yes.

Do you support download, progressive download, and streaming scenarios?

Yes.

We have a large Video portal up and running, but with no DRM currently. Can we integrate SilverHD DRM into our existing infrastructure? How?

Yes. Our cloud-based SilverHD DRM platform features a rich Web services API that can be used by any Website or portal to create license rules. A typical workflow could look like this (many other possibilities exist):

As a prerequisite the content is encrypted and published to some media server or CDN. We provide command line tools for this purpose that can be easily integrated in any asset management workflows.

Step 1: The user navigates the VoD portal and decides to buy / rent some content (note: this is just a sample scenario, other scenarios like subscriptions etc. are also supported). User hits “buy” button.

Step 2: The Web portal processes the transaction and does whatever it needs to do.

Step 3: The Web portal connects SilverHD DRM Server and creates a license rule for the current purchase which will allow the current user to view the acquired content.

Step 4: The Web portal sends its Web response to the user’s browser. Usually the user is redirected now to a Web page that contains a video player and the download URL for the video.

Step 5: The (Silverlight) player on the user’s machine connects the media server and starts downloading the protected content. It discovers that the content is encrypted and extracts the license acquisition URL from the content header.

Step 6: The player connects to the license server and receives the just created license. This license contains the decryption key as well as the usage rights.

Step 7: The player continues downloading and starts decryption and playback of the video.

Does your product provide the support for the Windows Media DRM 10 (WMDRM10)?

Yes.

Do you support iOS devices like iPhone and iPad?

Yes. We are able to provide you tailor-made players for all major mobile platforms, including iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod), Android, and Windows Phone 7. Contact us for more information.

Do you support Android devices?

Yes. We are able to provide you tailor-made players for all major mobile platforms, including iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod), Android, and Windows Phone 7. Contact us for more information.

Contact sales

Phone:
+49 911 801090

E-Mail: sales@axinom.com